This weekend I ran the Surf City Half Marathon. Here are the highlights of the race and exhibition. Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to my running gear.
I’ve run this race nine times now. I knew I did this one a lot, but I didn’t realize it was broken down into running the full marathon five times and the half marathon four times. The half marathon is my favorite race distance, but for this race I chose the full half because it’s a fairly flat course, the weather is usually mild, the logistics are easy, and it’s a local race. But I’m not in full marathon shape right now (and while the course is flat, there’s also an out-and-back section in the last few miles that is psychological torture).
I took Diego with me to the expo. It is located in the Huntington Beach parking lot off Main Street, which is a very nice area if you are not familiar with the area.
I helped my mom watch my nieces Friday night and most of Saturday. We celebrated my dad’s birthday, colored, played Guess in 10, watched Zombies 3, went to the park, got a stick of mango…
Basically I didn’t have time to think about the race until Saturday night when I realized I needed to get my flat runner sorted for the race. So I wasn’t as well hydrated or mentally prepared as I want to be, but it was only a half marathon so I wasn’t worried about that.
I was worried about getting to the race, even though last time I ran this one, which was run by Christine (and figured out all the logistics). I made sure to get there sooner if I was wrong about the street closures.
However, I took one wrong turn and ended up in a long parking line.
Fortunately, I had enough time to spare. But… it felt like I parked MILES away from the start. I thought it was like warming up before a race (since I don’t really warm up).
I met up with Pam before the race and we tried to get super fast together for hours because we weren’t planning on running together.
About mile 5 Elise found me and we ran together for a few miles. It was fun to chat. I should have been able to keep up with him, but at the turn I started to fade. I failed my fuel strategy and sometimes that’s good, but today it wasn’t.
I assumed they had the same fuel as before (Clif Gels – which I love) so I didn’t bring any with me. Well, they had another gel that would be fine, but I COULDN’T OPEN IT. It was a spin, no rip, and my hands were cold and sweaty…so I tried it on for a bit and then threw it away.
It would have been nice if I had picked up electrolytes at the aid stations leading up to this and beyond…but, my handy-dandy future-telling machine is in the shop, so I didn’t have this information.
Long story short… I started slowing down and couldn’t pick it up.
Then I started getting cramp in my muscle part. The contraction was very high, also under my butt. something I’ve never experienced before, so it scared me. Since it was a new pain and so close to my butt, I thought about stopping stretching but wasn’t sure how… so I kept going and prayed I could hold it together until the end. [I think the cramp was caused by some new strength and conditioning exercises I started this week. They’re things that will help in the long run, but I shouldn’t have done so many new moves so close to race day.]
I focused on pumping my arms to help my legs keep moving forward and realized I could stretch to the finish line. It worked! I finished (not fast or strong, but I finished).
My finish time was 1:52:49, which is an average pace of 8:36 per mile. Not a good time for me, but the fuel and cramping threw me out of the game physically and mentally. I tried to control the mental side of it and was able to KIT (keep it together). This is something I have worked on and truly believe is the key to running faster, stronger and better. So it feels good when things go wrong and not let them take over your thinking.
General. I was good at keeping my head in the game when things were going wrong.
Surf City Half Marathon finish time: 1:52:49
Surf City Marathon & Half Marathon medals have a stand on them so you can stand them up (or hang them as usual). I love it!
Running Gear Links.
-
Adjustable sports bra
-
Wick Wear Tank Top
-
Low running socks
-
Running belt
-
Bright skirt
-
Long running shorts
-
Running sunglasses
-
Garmin Running Watch
-
Run the Eat Repeat Visor
Continue with the following.